Green Bay — If you happen to be standing somewhere within the borders of Brown County, you've probably wondered what in the name of Mike Holmgren's temper is that insufferable yell echoing through the air.

On the surface, it might seem like it's coming from a bear in distress.

Greene, a veteran of 15 seasons in the National Football League and the third leading sack man in league history, can't take his mind off of rookie free agent Cyril Obiozor, an outside linebacker prospect learning the same position Greene once played. Turning "Obi" - as he fondly, and sometimes not so fondly, calls him - into a rush linebacker appears to be Greene's obsession.

"I see a lot," Greene said. "He's got heart. He's got passion for the game. He's not a lazy dude. He wants to be out there playing. That's something all the guys can see. You take that, and you can coach him from there. I want his fundamentals to improve so he can become a better player. He listens to what you're telling him. I like him a lot."

The son of Nigerian-born parents, Obiozor doesn't come off as the glass-eating, professional wrestler type that Greene had become. He's three hours short of a degree in technology management at Texas A&M, and speaking to him, it's pretty obvious he could whip your butt in football or the SAT.

But as Greene said, he has a passion for football, and where his brains come into play is in the way he handles the constant needling from Greene.

"I always pay attention to it," said Obiozor, whose name is pronounced Oh-bee-ah-ZER. "It's a good thing, from what I can see. It's not a negative. From the outside looking in, it might seem a bit abrasive. But I was always taught, 'take the message, not the delivery,' so that's how I go about it."

Greene's use of the former Aggie end's nickname usually is accompanied by something like, "C'mon," "That's it," or "What are you doing?" The other outside linebackers get their ears chewed once in a while, but no one gets the attention Obiozor does every day in practice.

“He pulled me to the side one day and said, “If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t say anything to you,” the young linebacker said. “That’s kind of how I’ve looked at it ever since.”

The reason Greene has taken to Obiozor is that the rookie has flashed ability the scouting staff thought he might have if he could slim down from the 270 pounds he weighed as a defensive end at Texas A&M. Extremely athletic for a man 6 feet 4, Obiozor came to the Packers weighing 267 and in just a matter of months was down more than 20 pounds.

Listed at 259 on the Packers' roster, Obiozor said after a recent practice that he was down to 243, a weight he thought was ideal for playing outside linebacker. He no longer puts his hand down when he lines up, and his responsibilities have grown to include covering tight ends like Donald Lee.

He lost the weight at a rate of one or two pounds a week, so he was able to maintain his muscle mass. He's well-built and looks like he's never weighed more than 245 in his life.

"When I first got here and I was running around at 269 and trying to cover D-Lee, I was thinking to myself, 'I have to get this (weight) off me,' " he said. "But as far as athleticism goes, I don't feel overmatched. I've never felt overmatched. It's just that they're veterans and they're here for a reason. They're tuned in to the mental aspect of it."

Obiozor hasn't quite found that channel yet. It's the biggest impediment he faces in beating the odds and going from undrafted rookie to member of the Packers' 53-man roster. He has benefited greatly from the absence of Clay Matthews (hamstring) and Jeremy Thompson (neck) the past two weeks, earning an unexpectedly large number of practice reps.

He's putting heat on Thompson and veteran Brady Poppinga for one of the roster spots at outside linebacker and may have too much potential to try to pass through waivers for the practice squad.

In the exhibition opener, he played almost the entire game, replacing veteran Aaron Kampman at the start of the second quarter and playing the rest of the way. He finished with just one tackle, but the playing time was invaluable. With Matthews and Thompson out for the Buffalo game Saturday, he’ll have another opportunity to show he’s worth keeping around.

“I can’t complain,” Obiozor said. “Ask rookies how many reps they’d like to take in a pre-season game, and I’m pretty sure they’d say all of them.”

The biggest transition for him is standing up as a linebacker and processing all the different things in front of him he never had to worry about as an end.

“Definitely, seeing all the possibilities of what can happen,” he said. “You might have an assignment, you might be covering a guy, but if a receiver crosses that guy, you’re no longer covering this guy, you’re covering that guy. It can get tricky.”

The one thing he never loses track of is his position coach. He’s always in shouting distance.